Visit Romania Present Day Attractions

Visit Romania

Locations from the present

You’ve just arrived at the presentation of The Quest’s 2nd Element! Not familiar with The Quest? Warp here to learn more about it. Long story short, we challenge you to embark on a quest to visit Romania and discover its hidden gems through our trademark concept of Time Travel Tourism – a unique way of travelling.

The Quest is based on 3 elements: Past locations, Present ones and Hidden History. Each one will unveil beautiful places but only the 3 of them combined will get you closer to the purpose of The Quest: becoming a “time traveler”. In the previous “chapter” you have unveiled the locations from a distant past (1st Element), so now it’s time to discover the modern thrills:

Bucharest’s Old City – a nightlong spectacle of lights, music and joy, 7 days a week

Bucharest is the European capital with the largest number (per square mile) of clubs, bars and lounges. The Old City in particular teems with life from early in the afternoon until sunrise. In the last years, this area was fully restored and it once again looks and feels like it did between the World Wars when Bucharest had earned itself a new nickname – “The Little Paris of the East”;

The Palace of Parliament – the largest administrative building in the world for civilian use

Also called “The House of the People”, it represents the heaviest building in the world and is also the second largest administrative building after the Pentagon (which has a military purpose, not a civilian one). It has 8 floors under the ground and is has enough space for 20,000 cars. The overall updated cost for building this giant is 4 billion USD.

Danube Delta safari – a crazy adventure through the world's 3rd largest biodiversity

Sail through mangrove forests and water lilies over the canals of the youngest continental land formation in Europe, up to the exotic Sacalin Island. Within the unique natural wonders of the Danube Delta you may find numerous Adventure Parks, virgin seaside beaches or practice extreme sports.

World class opera at the Romanian Athenaeum, hosting the Enescu International Festival

The Athenaeum, an emblem of both Bucharest and Romania was built in the honor of our beloved George Enescu, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. It hosts the Enescu Philharmonic and an International Festival bearing his name.

Unique architecture – The Brancovenesc style, also called the “Wallachian Renaissance”

This unique architectural style can be seen all over the country and it features authentic Romanian style mixed with western and oriental influences: renaissance and baroque on one side and byzantine and ottoman on the other.

Surreal outdoor museums out of which ASTRA is one of the largest in Europe

Aside from the “regular” museums, Romania offers several outdoor ones. The fascinating ASTRA Museum stands out as a colossal open-air reconstruction started over half a century ago, stretching over 96 hectares. You can admire over 300 restored buildings and over 15,000 traditional objects. All in all, it gathers all that is authentic Romanian by displaying fully restored and early medieval houses, workshops, mills, smithies or tools, all of which are placed in a paradise-like location: above the city of Sibiu (2007 European Cultural Capital), on top of a large hill overlooking the city, in the middle of a forest glade, around the shores of a small lake. Pure fantasy!

Retezat Reservation – a huge natural park on the roof of the Carpathian Mountains

On the roof of the Carpathians lies a large natural park filled with glacier lakes, alpine pastures and incredible wildlife, with more than 100 endemic animal and plant species. Speaking about wildlife – there are more wild brown bears in Romania than anywhere in Europe so photo hunting is as easy as it gets.

Revolutionary indoor and outdoor sculptures of Constantin Brancusi – the pioneer of modernism

Constantin Brancusi was one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and he was also called the patriarch of modern sculpture. One of his works has been sold out for over 29 million Euros ($32 million), a standing record for a sculpture sold at an auction.

Transalpina – a splendid alpine road crossing the edges of the Carpathians; The Turda Salina with its scenery out of the Star Wars movies; The Mamaia beachside – a strip of golden sand dotted with clubs, lying between the sea and a large lake etc.

Recap time, lads!

The Quest to Unveil Romania’s new way of travelling has 3 Elements.

You’ve just seen a bit of the 2nd Element – the locations closer to the present day.

The 1st Element contains locations from a distant past. Go here if you missed it out.

Now, you have a better picture of the terrain: historical areas, natural wonders and modern thrills. Still, if we take a look at our secret map, we can see large areas where a 3rd Element combines with the first 2 in a unique pattern, rendering past and present to feel like they are running in the same time. The outcome of this fusion is the real treasure that you must unveil. The goal of your Quest.

You’re starting to wonder, to say the least. Good. “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom”(Socrates) and you’re not yet prepared, young Padawan. Let’s go and find out about Hidden History and what makes it so special.